Device for operating furnace-doors



6. E. IVIEYERS'.

DEVICE FOR OPERATING FURNACE DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. ZI, I9`I9.

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CHARLES `E. MEYER/S,

0F CHICAGO,

ILLINOIS.

DEVICE FOR OPERATING FURNACE-DOORS.

Application filed April 21,

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES E. Mnvmis, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Operating Furnace-Doors, of which the followinO is a specification.

ily invention relates to a device designed more particularly to be applied to the furnace of a steam boiler used for the heating of buildings, and employing draft-regulating means controlled by the pressure of the steam in the boiler and acting to regulate the position of the draft door for the purpose of automatically'maintaining a uniform heat in the building. In steam heating systems of this character' it is usual for the attendant to replenish the furnace with fuel and leave the fuel door open for the night, and also close the draft door in order that no air may pass through the fuel and so that combustion may proceed as slowly as possible. The object of my invention is to provide a simple, reliable and eflicient device under the control of a clock, by means of which it may be set to operate at any desired time, and which, when operated, will act to close the fuel door` and replace the closed dra-ft door under control of the automatic draft-regulating device (through which it will be immediately opened), to the end that without the personal attention of an attendant the fire may be caused to begin to burn briskly at an early hour in the morning, or at any desired time. 'My invention resides in the arrangement and construction of cooperating members which constitute my improved device, the essential elements'- thereof being'l pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood however, that changes in the form and proportions of the parts described, or the substitution of equivalent elements having the same purpose in the structure are possible without departing from the substance of my invention orthe scope of the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a face vie-w ofthe-front -wal'l of a nfurnace and boiler to which my invention is applied; Fig. 2 is a side view of the same with the vfuel door open and the door closed FB is a section on the line 3 3 of-.F-ig.1,show-ing the operating slide in Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

1919. Serial N O. 291,784.

set or tensioned position; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front view showing the detent or latch; and Fig. 5 is a cross section on the line 5--5 of Fig. t.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the ligures of the drawing.

My invention may be applied to furnaces of various sizes and proportions, modification of the attaching or supporting members and the length or the connecting chains by which the fuel and draft doors are operated being made as required by the construction of the furnace in the particular case. In the drawings I have illustrated my invention as applied to a suitable and well known type of steam boiler furnace which has two fuel doors 1 1 swinging outwardly and away from each other on hinges arranged at opposite sides of the fuel opening and one latching on top of the other. Below these doors and below the level of the grate is the draft door or damper 2, hinged at its top to the ash-pit door 3, and covering when the ash-pit door and damper are both closed an opening into the ash-pit chamber underneath the grate. The draft-regulating device for controlling the position of this draft door need not be described in detail, but it comprises essentially a diaphragm which is mounted in a diaphragm casing l and exposed to pressure of steam conducted from the boiler to the diaphragm chamber through a steam pipe 5 the diaphragm being connected by a link 6 to a pivoted lever 7, one end of which lever is weighted and the other end of which is connected by a chain S with the draft door. The arrangement is such that a movement of the diaphragm due to increased pressure (and consequently heat) is communicated to thev draft doorto close it, and vice versa, thus automatically maintaining an approximately uniform temperature.

The frame of my novel door-closing device, which is secured to the front of the furnace in a suitable manner, consists in the present instance of two parallel vertical iron strips or guide bars 9*-9, L-shaped in cross-section and connected together in spaced lrelation attop and bottom, with their lateral flanges arranged at the front and directed outwardly or away` from the center. At their lower vend bars conveniently berconnected, as sho-wn, by a U-shaped con'- necting plate 1G, and at the top vby a bolt 11 passing lthrough a tubular spacing block 12 interposed between the rearwardly disposed webs of the bars. ln the particular furnace shown, the central bolt 13 of the cover of a cleaning-out opening intothe boiler affords a convenient means -of securing the lower end of the Vf 'ame to the furnace structure, the connecting plate being orificed to receive the bolt, and the upper end may be secured to the steam pipe 5 of the draft-regulator by a clamp 14:, or in anyV other suitable manner.

' The front faces of the bars 9-9 are provided on their outer sides with guide members which constitute a slide-way for the reception vof a slide consisting of a plate 13 which is yieldingly drawn upward by a .spring V16 connected to a rearwardly extending lug struck up from the lower end of such plate and anchoredvto the block 12 at the upper end of the frame of the device. The guide members may consist, as shown, of narrow strips 17 at the outer edges and in front'of the lateral webs of the bars 9 and the guide frame is arranged a catch or detent mechanism by means of which the slide may be held` in lowered position against the tension of its spring. The support for the detent may consist, as shown, of a pair of cross-bars or cross-plates 19 and 20, separated by tubular spacing blocks 21-21 engaged by bolts 22-22, the support being bolted to the guide frau e structure by a Y The `detent 2st is formed at its base with laterally extending cars 25-25 which are oi'ificed and loosely engage the bolts 2B-23, and with a rearwardly extending engaging hook 2G at its top. The slide 15 before mentioned is formedvwith a row of orifices or other eiigaging surfaces adapted to individually cooperate Vwith the hook 26 to latch the slide inv lower position against thel stress of its spring. A release lever 27,' operated by a clock mechanism which will next be described, is pivoted to the rearward portion of the top of the latch member, its lower end being formed with a short lateral bend 28 adapted to bear slidingly against the front face of the adjacent guide'trame member.

The clock 29 may be of the well-known form illustrated, having a lreyshaft for the alarm which rotates when the alarm mechanism operates at the hour to which it is set. The clock isfsecured firmly to a fixed support, in the present instance to a bracket 30 secured to the guide frame by means of attaching members engaged by the bolts 23 and inclined bracing member, and its alarm key pest is equipped with a winding drum 31 carrying cord 32 which is attached to the upper end of the release lever 27 before mentioned.

The lower end, of the slide 15 is detachably connected by a pair of chains 33-33 with Ythe fuel doors 1 1 of the furnace, the arrangement being such that the chains may be given sufficient slack to permit the doors to stand open by llatching the hook 26 in an appropriate hole in the slide, while when the slide is released and moves to uppermost position under the influence of its spring the door against which the other door latches (and the chain of which is slightly the shorter) will be first closed and the other Vdoor latch immediately upon it, the spring preferably remaining under slight tension so that both doors will be held shut. The chains may be iinhooked from the furnace doors and thrown over the upper part of the frame out of the way duringthe day.

The slide '15 is connected by a cord il secured to its top with the weighted end of the lever 7 of the,draft-regulating device of the furnace, the cord in thepresent instance passing over an idler pulley secured above the device to a convenient support, as for instance, the ceiling of the room in which the furnace is situated. The length of the cord is such that when the slide is in uppermost position the cord will be slackV andexercise no effect upon the lever, while when in lower, set position it will lift the weighted end of the lever and consequently permit the damper or draft door 2 tov close.

From the description above given it will readily be understood that when it Yis desired to set the device for the night, the alarm mechanism of the clock will be wound so that the cord 32 will be unweund frein the drum 31, the alarm being set to operate at the desired hour in the morning and the slide 15 Vthen drawn down and the detent hook 26 engaged in the appropriate hole in the slide, the slack in the cord 32 permitting the release lever 27 to be set to stand vertically against the face of the guide frame, as shown in Fig. 2. The drawing down of the slide will operate to close the draft door, as above explained and the chains 33-33 (assuming that they have been previously disconnected), are attached to the fuel doors 1 1, which latter are left open. llVhen the alarm mechanism operates, the .winding up of the cord 82 will pull upon the release Ylever 27 to cause itto free the hook from the opening in the slide 15, and the spring 16 will pull the slide upward, closing the fuel doors and permitting the weighted lever 7 (which at the time is not opposed by any steam pressure in the diaphragm 33 will be used, and that any suitable flexible connection, as, for instance, wire cables of appropriate size and strength lmay be substituted for the chains and cords described.

It is further obvious that where an automatic steam-diaphragm-controlled draft door regulator is not used, the draft door or damper may be opened by a simple weighted lever, the weighted end of which may be lifted to allow the damper to close by the same connections as those above described. Furthermore, the fuel door alone may be connected to the slide, if it should be desired to leave the draft door open.

I claim:

l. In a device of the character described, a guide-frame including parallel members which are L-sliaped in cross-section, one web of each member being arranged parallel with and opposite a corresponding web of the other bar and with the other webs of the two bars extending laterally away from each other in a commen plane and the parallel webs being secured together in spaced relation by cross-members at top and bottom, a plate slidingly mounted on the front of the lateral webs, and a spring housed between the parallel webs and connected at its bottom to the slide and at its top to the guide frame.

i2. In a device of the character described, a structure according to claim l in which the spring is secured to the cross member at the top of the frame and sliding plate is formed with a rearwardly bent tongue to which the bottom of the spring is attached.

3. In a device of the character described and including a frame formed with guideways and a slide in said Ways and a spring yieldingly tending to draw the slide toward one end of the frame, detent, mechanism including a pivoted hooked latch arranged to engage said slide, and a release lever pivoted upon said latch and arranged to fulcrum against the face of the frame.

4. A device of the character described and including a frame formed with guideways and a slide in said ways and a spring yieldingly tending to draw the slide toward one end of the frame, detent mechanism including a plate having laterally extending orificed cars, the frame being provided with a pair of forwardly extending bolts loosely engaging the orifices of the said ears.

5. In a device of the character described and in combination with the fuel door of a furnace, a guide frame including parallel vertical members secured together and formed with guide-ways, a plate slidingly mounted in said ways, a spring yieldingly tending to maintain said slide in elevated position, a detent arranged at the front lower part of said guide frame and mounted to rock backwardly and forwardly in a vertical plane, a release lever pivoted to said 'dctent and arranged to fulcrum against the face of the frame, a chain connecting said slide and said fuel door, said chain permitting said door to stand in opened position when the slide is latched in tensioned position and acting to close the door when the detent is released, and a clock mechanism for operating said release lever.

6. A structure of the character described and according to claim 5 in which the frame is provided on its front face with spaced cross-bars secured to the frame by a pair of bolts, and the base portion of the detent is arranged between the cross-bars and is formed with orifices loosely engaging said bolt-s.

7. A structure of the character described and according to claim in which the frame is provided on its front face with spaced crossbars secured to the frame by a pair of volts, and the base portion of the detent is arranged between the cross-bars and is formed with oriices loosely engaging said bolts, and in which also a bracket to support said clocl; mechanism is provided, said bracket including attaching members secured to said frame by engagement with said pair of bolts.

CHARLES E. MEYERS. 

